SC lawmakers’ return to Columbia for emergency session dissolves in Santee Cooper debate
It was supposed to be a quick return for lawmakers Wednesday to the South Carolina Capitol to pass emergency measures and get out of Columbia to avoid further congregating amid the coronavirus spread.
But that plan quickly dissolved as a debate unfolded over what to do with the state’s public utility, Santee Cooper.
On the floor, House budget chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, blasted Santee Cooper’s management and board, detailing to colleagues why weeks of negotiations between House and Senate leaders blew up just hours before lawmakers returned.
“Unfortunately ... two nights ago, we were notified by the Senate that they cannot go forward with Santee Cooper because they had a few senators, and I emphasize few, that would not go along with that and that would hold it up,” Smith said. “We negotiated all into the wee hours of last night, started again early this morning, and unfortunately I’m here to report to you that we have made no progress.”
In a scathing two-page letter written Wednesday, House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, said if state law or the House had the authority, he would seek the immediate removal of the entire Santee Cooper board and senior management employees.
Lucas was upset by what he and other lawmakers have characterized as misleading comments made by Santee Cooper officials as lawmakers worked toward their emergency agreement to keep government open.
“It is evident that Santee Cooper suffers from a broken corporate culture that is deeply ingrained in your leadership,” Lucas wrote to Santee Cooper’s CEO Mark Bonsall and board chairman Dan Ray. “It is a shame that the leaders of what was once one of this state’s greatest assets suffer from such arrogance and ambivalence as to behave in the manner you have.”
A draft proposal — called a continuing resolution, adopted by the Legislature every year in case budget negotiations between the chambers goes sour — included measures to punt the debate over whether to sell Santee Cooper into the next year, given lawmakers are uncertain when they will return to the State House for work.
As part of the document, lawmakers included a provision that Santee Cooper could not enter into any new contracts longer than one year, including, but not limited to, contracts for the purchase of energy or generation capacity.
Republican state Sen. Larry Grooms, a vocal public defender of Santee Cooper, which is in his Berkeley County district, unloaded in the Senate, taking the side of the utility, saying that measure could stunt the utility’s ability to perform work amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They’re providing power to two million people in South Carolina, and we ratchet them down such that they won’t even have the ability to respond to emergency situations as it relates to the pandemic,” Grooms said. “And when the lights go out ... we know who’s going to get blamed. It’s not going to be Santee Cooper, because if this becomes law, they won’t have the ability to respond to the pandemic.”
In an email to The State, Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore said emails were sent to a few legislators that were “premature and presumptive.”
The emails, she said, had mistakenly indicated Central Electric Power Cooperative was supportive of Santee Cooper’s plans to pursue certain efficiencies and cost savings as part of complying with a ratepayer settlement agreement.
“Our CEO has apologized for that,” Gore wrote. “And he will be seeking opportunities to discuss this with legislators as soon as possible,” Gore wrote.
Ignoring senators’ protest, the House unanimously on Wednesday adopted the continuing resolution but did not adopt a sine die resolution that outlines what what the General Assembly can take up after session ends May 14, called “sine die,” leaving in doubt when the General Assembly will return to the State House.
That emergency measure ensures state government can continue to operate past July 1 without a new budget, and the spending of $180 million to be spent strictly to address the novel virus, which includes up to $15 million to make protect the health of South Carolina voters, poll workers and local elections employees during the June and November elections and money to reimburse local governments and hospitals for any spending directly tied to coronavirus that could include preventing a hospital from closing its doors.
The Senate adopted its own version of the continuing resolution just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, including in it a provision that any decision made by Santee Cooper must have approval from the governor, the Senate president, the House speaker and both budget chairmen.
That vote now forces the House to return.
“Today’s vote in the Senate is a shameless abdication of leadership,” Lucas said.
Joseph Bustos contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
